KulKul – The Sweet X’mas Treat From Goa

Years ago I read this story where the writer described how his house and everything in it conspired against him every time he came to some money. With every extra penny there was either an appliance that needed repair or replacing, or a leaky roof or sprinkler and so on. You get the idea. Now the smart appliances of today, are smarter – they don’t wait for you to have money before deciding to take a break. Their “smart” circuits are evolved to make their presence or lack their of felt when you need them the most – just like my oven breaking down right in the middle of Christmas baking.

As luck would have it the technician would come in and everything would be be working fine. The tech takes his handy dandy tester out, plugs it in and everything is just peachy. The very next day I turn the oven on, and it just does not heat up – no change in the internal temperature. After going through this a couple times it was beginning to feel personal. Anyway the last tech (smarter??) to take a look at this seems to have figured it out .. and no, it was not in my head !!! So now we are waiting for the parts to arrive, hopefully soon, with no cakes or cookies coming out of the kitchen and impatient kids in the house.. one of whom is really worried that Santa is not going to be pleased when to see no fresh cookies waiting for him.

So here I am making one of my favorite (no bake !) treats from back home – Kulkuls from Goa. These are especially popular during X’mas time. These tiny treats are shaped like gnocchi – little bits of fried sweet dough in cute curly shapes. There are many variations of this traditional treat. Some are crunchy, while some are soft. Some are coated in sugar syrup while others are left plain. I like these with a little crunch on the outside, so no sugar syrup here. We make these sweet, and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Powder the sugar in a blender. Mix the powdered sugar, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl .

Rub the butter into the flour mix until crumbly.

Add the vanilla extract and mix in the coconut milk little by little to make a stiff dough. The dough should be very tight , if needed add extra flour. Cover the dough and let rest for 10 minutes.

Pour enough oil into a thick bottomed pan to fill it at about 1 inch depth. Heat over medium flame.

Take a piece of the dough about the size of large pea / blueberry (3/4 to 1 cm in diameter) and roll into a ball. Press the ball on the back of a fork and flatten. Roll the flattened piece of dough , so that the indentations from the fork are visible. Place the rolled kulkuls in a pan dusted with little flour or on a parchment paper,

Test the oil temperature by placing a small piece of dough in the hot oil . If i crackles and floats to top , the oil is hot enough . If it browns immediately , tun off the heat and let the oil cool a little .

keep the heat at medium and drop a few rolled kulkuls in the hot oil . Turn the pieces often while frying to brown all sides evenly .

Drain to a paper towel .

Once the kulkuls are warm dust powdered sugar on top and serve.

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A word of advice though , if you are making a large batch make sure you have help in the kitchen . Rolling out these little darlings are time consuming .

Powder the sugar in a blender if it is not fine grained. Mix with flour , a pinch of salt and softened butter. Rub the butter into the flour and add the vanilla extract. Add 2 Tbsp of the coconut milk and start to knead. Add more coconut milk as needed to make a stiff dough. If the dough has turned soft add more flour and bring it back to stiff consistency. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Pinch of a piece of dough a little bigger than a pea. Roll into a ball and flatten it by pressing it on the back of a fork. Roll back the flattened piece so the indentations from the fork are visible. This is for decorative purpose only – the dough can be pinched off flattened and fried as it and it will be absolutely delicious.

Heat enough oil, about 1″ in depth, in a thick bottomed pan. The oil should be hot , ut not smoking to fry the Kulkuls . Here is an easy way to test – place a small piece of dough in the hot oil , if it sizzles and floats the oil is hot enough , if it browns the the oil is too hot , if it sinks and very few bubbles appear then it is not hot enough . Keep the heat at medium and place a few kulkuls at a time in the hot oil. Turn a few times to fry the Kulkuls on all sides. Remove from the oil oven when it is golden brown and drain on paper towels.

Dust with powdered sugar after the kulkuls are cooled a little but while still warm .

2 thoughts on “KulKul – The Sweet X’mas Treat From Goa”

This looks like something new that I want to try to make! Each year I try to find three new items to cook or bake that I have never done before. This is definitely on the list! I can’t wait to see more of your recipes, keep em’ coming!

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Hi,
Welcome to Oventales ! I am Syama. I am the
writer, photographer and cook-in-charge here.Browse around and you will find many things culinary - recipes tips and tricks and an odd science or history trivia